Research Suggests Vitamin D as a Treatment Tool for Asthma

From unexpected attacks to making sure an inhaler is always present, this condition has the ability to dominate a life, especially if it’s a young child who’s affected. Modern medical advances have done an amazing job of limiting the health impact that asthma can have but long term inhaled corticosteroid use is not without it’s negative side effects. The longer you need to use your inhaler, the more you put yourself at risk for adrenal suppression, osteoporosis, muscle damage, mood changes, and more.

So like everything we do in our office, we always want to find a more natural way of treating a problem, that is effective, and is backed up by science and research. Recently, the Cochrane Library published an article entitled "Vitamin D for the Management of Asthma." In this literature review, the researchers looked at a number of experiments involving 435 children and 658 adults. Their research showed that the application of Vitamin D for these patients reduced the rate of exacerbation requiring emergency corticosteroid use, and decreased the risk of having a flare up event that would require an ER visit.

So what can you do? Well, if you are an asthma sufferer, the first thing you want to do is get your Vitamin D levels tested. Vitamin D is one of the most commonly deficient nutrient levels in our body. It’s the “sunshine” vitamin, meaning that we can synthesize it ourselves if we spend enough time outdoors. But for the vast majority of us, our lives more often than not have us spending time indoors as opposed to outside. If you are unable to get outside more, then a good supplement may be able to help. We generally recommend a D3, ranging from 5000 IUs per day to 10000 IUs per day depending on the individual. Depending on your particular condition, this may be an easy, natural, and effective way to help manage asthma flare ups.